Kiev Hosts Largely Incident-Free Gay Pride March

KIEV - Ukrainian politicians and foreign diplomats joined thousands marching for gay pride in Kiev on Sunday, carrying banners and waving rainbow and Ukrainian flags in a parade flanked by a thick cordon of helmeted police.

Some supporters of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights see progress in Ukraine as symptomatic of the country's closer integration with the European Union and rejection of its ties with neighboring Russia.

Ukrainian police provide protection to an annual Gay Pride march in Kiev, Ukraine's capital, on June 18.Efrem Lukatsky / AP

Sunday's march was largely incident-free, although around 200 people protested, variously calling it an affront to traditional values and to soldiers fighting pro-Russian separatist rebels in the eastern Donbass region.

Ukrainian authorities have increased their support for gay rights since a pro-Western government took power following the Maidan protests in 2014. In 2015, a law was passed banning workplace discrimination against the LGBTQ community.